


Tomorrow, another city.

by hidden_ziall



Series: Ever Enough. [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Family, Bottom Liam, Cheating, Depression, Disorders, Drama, Drug Use, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Gay, Gay Male Character, Incest, Lots of it, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Mental Breakdown, Narry - Freeform, Sad, Secrets, Sexual Content, Sibling Incest, Sub Harry, Swearing, Top Zayn, aye, dominant niall, i guess, lilo, ziam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 16:02:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1475722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hidden_ziall/pseuds/hidden_ziall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>❝ we could leave this town and run forever. ❞</p><p> </p><p>A married couple with two children. They are happy on the outside, but one of them is keeping a secret. A secret which can ruin it all. One of them, is cheating. One of them, is drinking. One of them, is crying. One of them, is yelling. One of them, is in love. One of them, is immature.<br/>Either way, they are supposed to take care of their two children; Niall, their 12 years-old son and Harry, their 7 years-old son. But when the two of them are finding themselves wrapped around a blanket in the same bed, tears running down their cheeks, things change a bit. Because as long as their parents can’t take care of them, they are taking care of each other.</p><p>And then, there is also Louis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tomorrow, another city.

**_Niall; Part I._ **

 

How wonderful would life be, if Niall wouldn't have failed in his last Maths test. How much he wishes that his teacher wouldn't have been so angry with him. But the big, red ‘F’ is still there, no matter how much he wishes it away. Niall is carrying it with him in his bag, together with his other books and his sandwich which is wrapped in silver paper — Niall always collects it to use it at some point, again — and of course his pencil case which has some tigers on it.

As the blond boy hops into the school bus, he prays to God that it would get a flat tyre, because if he would come home late, his dad, Zayn, would already have gone to bed and he could tell his papa, Liam, about it; together, they would think about what to do. His papa isn't one to yell at his children. If something bad happened — like that day when Niall broke his dad's quill — his papa always told him, “It's alright, worse things happen.”, and smeared the marmelade onto the slice of bread, walked over to his dad and sat beside him on the bed.   
Niall's papa always supports him. Well, there is one thing where he doesn't support him. And that thing is when the blond boy pinches or shoves or calls his younger brother, Harry, names. Whenever this happened, Niall's papa gave the blond a glare which spoke for itself and hugged Harry, whispering into his ear that he shouldn't cry, because Niall still _loved_ him. But that wasn't the point.

Everyone loves Harry; he is small and cuddly with those pale cheeks and green eyes and curly hair. And even though “he does some stupid things, he is still small and you're not allowed to pinch him, shove him, punch him or even pull at his hair.”, so his papa told him countless times. Anyways, right now, Niall has other problems. He failed the test.

It wasn't even his fault that he did! His pudgy teacher handed the test to him and Josh, from behind, didn't stop kicking Niall's chair with his foot, because he wanted him to show him his sheet. But what was Niall supposed to show him? He hadn't a clue himself what all of this meant. It was difficult —  hard, even — even the spelling in his answers had mistakes!   
Everyone had agreed a long time ago that their Maths teacher is stern and rigid. He always told them that “if you don't understand mathematics, you're going to be stupid for the rest of your life.”

Josh, behind Niall, though, didn't seem to care that their teacher was strict — he kept pushing and pushing and pushing and whispering, “C'mon, mate, just lean a bit more to the right.” And Niall, after a long huff, did. He showed him his sheet — well, what was half-written on it, anyway — and right in this second, their teacher head over to them and stood with his face above their heads, looking like the devil (Niall's grandma always said that, she said, “Don't look at me like the devil.”).   
He stood there for a few moments and then grabbed into Niall's pencil case, took out the red marker and wrote a big ‘F’ on both of their tests.

Josh started crying, but beared up immediately and told him that what he had done was completely unfair and that he would tell his dad. Niall laughed in his mind; the last thing, he could think of was to tell his dad. Therefore, the blond boy just sat there and stared at his failure of a test, kinda reliefed that he at least wasn't supposed to finish the test. But then fear came up — how was he supposed to tell his dad who is always proud of ‘A’s? Who always pats Harry on the shoulder and praises him and tells him bravo for being the best in class? _But there's a difference between second grade and sixth,_ Niall thinks to himself. In the lower grades the little kids always get ‘A’s — sometimes even with stars — just because if they don't, they are sad. But later on, it's different.

While Niall is busy with his thoughts, the schoolbus stops at the station and, being the clumsy fellow that he is, he nearly misses it. The blond and Josh — which lived on the same street since they were four — get out and wave each other before they part into different directions.

As Niall stands in front of his home's doors, he imagines in his head how it would go, eventually. His dad would probably yell at him, question him how he wanted to pay his bills some day if he is a failure at school, in an ironical way, and then he would send him to his room and force him to go through all of the things he was supposed to learn since grade five. He hardly has any understanding bone in his body.   
Then again, one door a floor higher, there would be Niall's papa, who smells so good — like soap and pine cone — and who would ask him how school went and then he would help him put his pyjama on.

But when Niall opens the door and sees his dad in the kitchen with his mouth full of pasta, his heart drops. He stands there with a piece of bread in his one hand and a fork in the other, eating straight out of the tupperware container.

“How was your day, Niall?”, he asks with his mouth still full, “How did Geography go, eh? Speak, Niall! Oh, by the way, Steph made dinner, but as usual it's not really eatable.” Niall's dad turns to him and just as the blond sits down in front of the table, the man does the same.  
 _Please, why can't he just go to bed? Go to bed, already!,_ Niall thinks to himself, _And where in hell is Steph?_ His dad never yells at him when she is around. His dad says that, yes, she is nice and lovely, but she's not a family member, therefore it's none of her business. Steph only helps his papa at the household, or rather, _does_ the household, because his papa is too lazy to do so (and his dad clarified that he isn't going to do it). The only thing that Steph can't do, is cook. That's why they often ate only omelettes or cans of tinned food or the few times the blond woman did cook something, they ate that. “Reluctantly.”, his dad always jokes, “We're sitting on the table of pain.”

Niall's papa has no clue of cooking (and his dad is too lazy, says that it's not his part to cook), but sometimes he would walk to the Chinese a few streets further and would buy something, then go to the cake shop and come back with a dessert, as well. And that's how they ate.   
But Niall isn't complaining — he eats sausages and sushi and potatoes and other not-so-healthy things and enjoys it, of course.

He never saw his papa even looking into a pot, unlike, for example, his Aunt Beatrix or Josh's mum. But, even though, other parents (mum _and_ dad) could cook, Niall's papa is simply the best. First of all, he is young. Secondly, he is not the slightliest bit fat (Josh's father, for example, has a beer belly, which looks like he would give birth any second) and thirdly, he laughs a lot and knows plenty of games. He could even make shadows with his hands that looked like animals or monsters! The blond could play with him different kinds of games; cars, Monopoly, soft toys — just everything.   
Niall's dad always told him that, “Papa is a playground himself.” And the blond boy assumed that he meant that with his papa, everything seems easy. Once, when Niall was reading Mary Poppins in his English class, it popped into his mind that his papa and her were quite alike. The only difference though, was that his papa was, of course, a man and he couldn't do magical things, like, cause objects to dance. But when the boy told his dad about his discovery, he only replied with, “What's with her? Is she a fairy or something?”

When Niall's dad finally goes to bed, saying, “I'm off.” and disappearing into the bedroom. His dad always took a nap after lunch, because he had to wake up really early (he worked as a mechanic) and  was exhausted when he came from work. His papa instead, never wakes up with him — he's got a sleep disorder and falls asleep by daybreak, meaning that he can't wake up that early.   
“Thanks God there's Steph,” Niall's dad said a few months back, “making me coffee and watching me so that I won't get out of here with my slippers still on!” Steph always did the morning coffee for his dad, and sandwiches for Niall and Harry. And when the two boys enter the schoolbus, their papa is still asleep.

As said, Niall's dad goes to take a nap, saying, “I'm off,” and, “Don't make too much noise for just half an hour, yeah?” But Harry doesn't hear him; he is in his room, probably playing with something. So, Niall is getting ready to tell his papa about his test, taking a quick look at Harry's door — you never know what little brothers are up to; eavedroping and telling things —, but then the phone rings and his papa walks straight past him to pick it up (which is already strange, because usually Steph is the one picking it up). The blond boy follows him and watches. He watches how his papa swallows and swallows, but there's nothing in his mouth. But he keeps on swallowing like he's drinking water and Niall wonders why he isn't speaking. Then panic goes through him — what if his teacher called? And he couldn't even tell his papa yet? What if he has to repeat the year?

Out of a sudden, his papa lays the phone down, in a rapid motion, and heads over to the bathroom, immediately. Niall, once again, follows. He positions himself in front of the door and listens to the flashing — once, twice, thrice —, then hears the bathroom cabinet open and close and the toilet roll being tugged on. His papa cries. _But why is he crying?,_ Niall wonders and then remembers that he heard him crying and saw him, as well, a while ago, but his papa shrugged it off, saying — lying — that he just got a really bad cold. He forgot about it last time, because he went for a ride with his bike together with Josh. But now that he is sad, as well, he decides not to forget it.

Niall walks back to his room, a frown settled on his pale forehead and packing his schoolbag. As he sits down on his bed, he wonders if adults ever fail at something. And if they do — who gives them their mark?


End file.
